God’s Rest

The Creation account in the opening chapters of Genesis is probably familiar to most people who have at any point come into contact with the Scriptures. Genesis, or origins, is foundational for understanding how and why we were created and gives purpose to life these thousands of years later. While Adam and Eve often garner the majority of the focus in these opening chapters, it’s clear that Scripture places the primary attention upon God from the very opening words, “In the beginning God”. From there, it’s not man who is the main actor, but God. We are introduced to the God who sovereignly creates, orders, and sustains, not merely an accumulation of particles that randomly formed the universe, but a purposeful creation by a detail oriented God intent on creating man in His image for His own glory.

After the introduction of creation in chapter 1, and before providing a more detailed focus upon the creation of man in chapter 2, we are given the following description of this all-powerful, creating God

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

At the outset, this might generate a few questions concerning the nature of the God who was just introduced to us in chapter 1 of Genesis, namely, if He is all-powerful and certainly the Creator, why is it that He needs to rest? Did the 6-day creative process tire Him out? Or perhaps is He a father-time figure that wound creation up and now must minimize energy by simply observing His work from a high or distant perch?

These questions, while they may seem simplistic and perhaps even juvenile, are nonetheless legitimate given the sentence, “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.”

In answering these, we must first start with God as Creator and more specifically how God created, namely by divine fiat or decree. God literally spoke creation into existence, from nothing, i.e. ex nihilo. In Genesis 1, we encounter the statement, “God said” ten times. Seven of these were declarations bringing various creations into existence while the 8th was an intra-Trinitarian statement and the last two uses were commands to man. Would God need to rest on the seventh day after “simply” speaking creation into existence?

Hardly.

We may conclude that God did not need to rest, as though He were exhausted from His creative work. As God has progressively revealed Himself throughout the Scriptures, we are informed elsewhere that rest is not a necessity for God. For example, Isaiah 40:28

Have you not known? Have you not heard?The Lord is the everlasting God,the Creator of the ends of the earth.He does not faint or grow weary;his understanding is unsearchable.

And Psalm 121:4

“Behold, he who keeps Israelwill neither slumber nor sleep.”

The Second observation is that while man was created on Day 6 and rest occurred on Day 7, we are informed that it was God’s rest. Similarly, we have no indication of which calendar day this rest may have occurred, because, well, calendars had not yet been developed. We simply know at this point that it was the Seventh Day of creation. This is a crucial point because frequently this passage concerning God’s rest in Genesis has been used as a proof text to argue for the existence of 1. A perpetual day of Sabbath rest (Saturday) or 2. The transference of the Sabbath day to the Lord’s Day (Sunday). Despite these interpretive efforts, there is simply no indication nor command for man to observe a particular Sabbath day in this passage. All we have thus far in God’s revelation is that He rested from His work on the seventh day. While this occurrence in Genesis 2 certainly informs and provides a framework for the later institution of a Sabbath Day commandment given at Sinai, there is not one single passage that prescribes or describes any person from Adam to Exodus 16 commanded to set aside a particular day for rest.

Third, this rest came at the conclusion of creation. In other words, God’s rest was the consummation of creation. It’s at this point that the action of God as Creator becomes the action of God as Sustainer. The preparation for this role is particularly evident in the creation accounts and in the passages that immediately follow Genesis 2:2. For further biblical evidence, we may draw upon Colossians 1:16-17, John 1:3, and Hebrews 1:3.

Fourth, God blesses or sanctifies this Sabbath Day to make it holy, literally He sets it apart from the other days. This function of sanctifying a particular day speaks to God’s authority and also towards a priestly role. Related, some have concluded that this rest of God speaks less of actual rest or ceasing from effort, as we concluded earlier, and more of a Sabbath-Enthronement.¹ Several passages throughout Scripture speak to God’s enthronement over His creation and the earth as His footstool, Isaiah 66:1; 2 Chronicles 6:18, 41; Acts 7:49.

Similarly, there is compelling evidence that the creation of the earth in general and the garden in particular as God’s place of habitation or dwelling, i.e. His temple. In Genesis 3:8 we read, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day….” Some commentators have pointed out that this same Hebrew verbal root stem occurs elsewhere in relation to God’s presence in the tabernacle, see Lev. 26:12, Deut. 23:14, 2 Samuel 7:6-7.² Further we may consider the geographic layout of this early scene from Genesis with the earth, Eden, and the garden as a parallel to the tabernacle layout of the Outer Court, Holy Place, and Holy of Holies. This theme will be further drawn out when we consider Adam’s rest in a future post.

Fifth, while the other six days have the concluding statement, “and the evening and the morning were the ______ day”, the seventh day deviates from this pattern suggesting that it is open ended. In other words, that it was, or perhaps even still is, on going.

The pinnacle of the creation narrative is not the creation of Adam and Eve, rather it is the rest of God. Simply observing the structure of Genesis 1 and 2 and this becomes evident. As we’ve seen, God did not require rest, rather it was pointing towards greater significance. From our passage in Genesis 2, we may summarize the 3 specific actions words that serve as links in a chain. God finished. God rested. God blessed. As we will see in future posts, God’s rest is both anticipatory and archetypal of future fulfillment.

Notes:

Kline, Meredith G. Kingdom Prologue.

Alexander, Desmond T., From Paradise to the Promised Land. G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission.